James T. Avery
|birth=May 23rd 2496 |death=November 30th 2545 (age 49) |rank= |gender=Male |height=6ft, 2 in. |weapons=Magnum |vehicles=UNSC Hamlet |hair=*Brown *Graying (As of 2542) |eyes=Brown |era=*Human-Covenant War |notable=*Father of Shield Team member Joseph Avery *One of the founders of the Alpha-Zulu Corps *Served alongside Orange Team *Had three grandchildren who all followed in his footsteps |affiliation= |name=James Avery|cyber = Cybernetic Hand}} James Trevor Avery ( : 56722-89314-JA) was born to a wealthy family on Mars in 2496. After a declaration of war was made James felt as if he had to enlist and on June 23rd 2526, James Avery joined the Navy. Proving himself in multiple ways, James eventually took command of the UNSC Hamlet. After seeing the greatness of certain spartan III units together he along side spartans Roderick-A207 and Benjamin-B300 (called Banji by his peers) formed the Alpha-Zulu Corps and enlisted twenty-six spartan teams from all branches. Early Years Born on May 23rd 2496, James Trevor Avery was the son of Trevor and Emily Avery and was the third child after his older brother Thomas and older sister Jane. James was a troubled child as though he would always do right, yet he was still the topic of teasing and joke telling at school. As the years went by, his father and himself still held a strong bond and was the reason why James loved space travel as his father was the captain of a colony ship and discovered he worlds for humanity. James and his mother also held a strong bond as she was a nurse and use to serve alongside her husband. Emily strongly cared for her son as both her and James proved to be the most intelligent with no negative respond from the family. Along with having a strong bond with his parents, James' siblings also supported and cared for him too. During an all school recess, three kids attacked James and thus his older siblings both Thomas and Jane stepped in and almost beat the three attackers to a pulp. This inspired James to always do right, no matter what the cause was. High School James attended his local high school, Thoraces High and quickly became an high honor role student all four years. Despite his intelligence, James was still bullied and lacked friends aside from his siblings. During high school, James was placed in horrible fights and gang beatings from fellow students. But every fight he was in, James fought back and always knocked at least one out. In his junior year, a student named Amy Madison, who he had known since kindergarten, approached him claiming "it was not for pity, just wanted someone new to talk to". James and Amy soon became very good friends and by the end of the year, began dating each other. College James was accepted by numerous collages and university all around Mars and even Earth, but James decided to go to Nordic University of Astronomical Exploration. James' fascination with space travel convinced him to go as it was the best space school in the area aside from the local military academy. Luckily for James, his then girlfriend, Amy Madison also attended Nordic University and studied astro nuclear physics and slip-space while James studied different planets and standard star charts. James graduated in 2523 while Amy earned her PHD in astro nuclear physics and graduated four years later. On the day of her graduation, James proposed to Amy and she said yes. Military Career In June 2526, James and Amy heard about the destruction of Harvest and how it was hit hard and a declaration of war was declared on an alien empire called The Covenant. Feeling like he had to do something, James enlisted into the UNSC and entered the Thoraces Military Academy of Military Science and graduated in less than a year. James was then assigned to under the command of Captain Marcus Locke. Harvest Campaign In 2531, the UNSC Alexander along with Avery attacked the Covenant fleet orbiting Harvest. As the ship attacked, their navigational lieutenant, Hardy, was knockout and thus acting on pure instinct, Avery took up Hardy's position and navigated the ship's way through a Covenant barrage of fire. As James flew the ship, the weapons officers opened fire and destroyed the majority of ships surrounding the planet, causing the Covenant to retreat. Afterwards, James was then optioned a promotion for his acts which he declined stating "I didn't do anything but my duty. If that is why I get promoted then we all should be admirals". Returning to Earth, both Captain Locke and Vice Admiral Cole agreed and James was ordered to take the promotion as Locke needed another lieutenant and advisor. Battle of Lotus On June 2nd, 2531, James and the Alexander crew arrived to reinforce the local defenses of Lotus against the Covenant. Avery and Locke had orders to send troops to both the orbital defense platform and local forces on the planet. However, James denied the order and sent troops directly to the planet's surface, not due to rash behavior but rather that he realized the Covenant were about to break through into the line. Locke concurred and the Alexander's main force went to the planet were they were engaged by Covenant forces minutes after they landed and caught them off guard. Avery then had the Alexander use its main port guns to the city of the deployment. Locke had the city evacuated and just as a corvette flew underneath, Avery let fire and the corvette was gunned down and crashed into the city below. James then turned the ship to an incoming strike force and engaged them via MAC rounds and fighters he had placed on the station months ago. Locke then had a frigate the UNSC Defender's Crest deployed and placed Avery in its command. With his own ship, Avery moved it towards a clearing the planet's defenses and had all guns prepare to fire. Within minutes a Covenant convoy came through with the Crest gunning them down and destroyed the resources needed. The Alexander's main attack force was also able to make a cruiser retreat to the outer atmosphere with Avery giving chase. Just before the cruiser was able to make it to slip-space, Avery personally piloted a and placed a tracker on the ship's hull. Avery had recommended to Locke that the ship be tracked, but Avery was placed on leave for disobeying orders and was ordered to return to Mars and await future deployment. Return to Mars Though James was discharged, he was able to reunite with his wife and family back of Mars. James and Amy were able to spend much needed time together and soon, they bore two twin children, Lindsey and Joseph Avery. James would also assist his mother in their food stand business and got a job working for a salvage crew. During his work as a diver for the crew, Captain Jameson eventually retired and left Avery in charge. Thus James began his new family business, the Avery Family Salvage Company and took on several jobs in Thoraces. James was able to get his sister and mother involved in the business and would run it when he was busy with the kids. However, in September of 2532, James was recalled to the military yet again under Marcus Locke's command on the Alexander. Battle of Himita Deployed with Battlegroup 9, Avery was deployed but was under constant close watch as the ship was deployed to engage a small Covenant fleet. However, Avery was deployed on the front lines and led a ground assault towards a Covenant stronghold. Avery and his team would easily overtake the stronghold's defenses with the cover provided by the ships and slipped inside to secure the area. Once inside, Avery copied, and destroyed Covenant data and reported directly to Locke without question. However, Avery's team was boxed in by Covenant and just before he was killed, Orange Team was able to save his life. This was Avery's first hand at seeing the Spartan's courage. Meeting Aidan-007, Avery was given command and the group took to the skies after steeling a Covenant phantom and spirits and began to eliminate outside guns of opposing Covenant ground stations and even on a few ships. However, due to overwhelming Covenant forces, all UNSC personnel were ordered to full back. Operation: ONE, TWO PUNCH For his loyalty and courage, James was given his position on the bridge again in which he and Locke led Battlegroup 6 to attack New Boston in Operation: ONE, TWO PUNCH. Avery once again proved his tactical prowess over the Covenant by outmaneuvering several of their fighters and even some plasma torpedoes. Eventually, Battlegroup 6 was able to recapture New Boston, just as another fleet came in and Aidan ordered a full retreat. Locke and Avery made the decision for the crew to leave the system and thus, the UNSC lost Himita. Battle at Hiro Topa In early 2541, James was then given the title of and first officer of the Alexander. The ship was stationed at the research station Hiro Topa near the Bellator Asteroid Field. Scouts located a Covenant convoy and assault fleet inbound on the station. Locke gave Avery command of the Alexander while he advise from the rear. Avery and the Alexander went into the astroid field and was approached by a few Covenant scouts which the crew was easily able to eliminate. While inside the field, Avery was able to locate the Covenant fleet and used the asteroids for cover. The asteroids gave the ship enough cover to slip behind the fleet and fired at the engines rendering all the ships immobile. Afterwards, Avery deployed fighters to mop up the rest of the Covenant incoming attack while he fire the MAC gun directly towards the main reactor core of one of the cruisers he had stropped. However, James instead hit the slip-space drive and teleported almost the entire fleet into oblivion. After the drive teleported the ships, Avery gunned it toward the main carrier and fired everything left directly into the fuel chambers and engines thus having the ship heavily damaged with the station finishing it off. This earned James the rank of and his own ship to govern over. Alpha-Zulu Corps Formation After achieving the rank of Captain, James was saved several times by Spartans and soon desired to use them for top military operations. James went to Earth and requested to the UNSC Security Council that he receive spartans from all programs to use their greatness and tactical prowess in battle to defeat the Covenant faster. The council though denied his request with only one branch agreeing, ONI. ONI went to work secretly gathering members of Alpha Company before Prometheus to join Avery. After the operation, ONI pulled about six surviving members of Alpha were then placed in the Corps. ONI went to Avery and gave him full command of all the units given to the Alpha-Zulu Corps. Battle of New Amsterdam After receiving the spartans from Alpha Company, Avery quickly went to work deploying them to New Amsterdam. Dropping the spartans into Fulcrum City, James' only order was "Show me what you are capable of." and let the spartans have full command of the situation. Seeing the members of Alpha in action, James was blown away by their pure determination, tactical abilities and their strategies as they even used some of his own plans and tactics. Battle of Demos After the success of the Battle of New Amsterdam, James was deployed to Demos and thus chose the spartans of Juliet, Echo and Hotel Teams to test in the field. Avery deployed the spartans to several different locations sending Juliet and Echo to a suspected Insurgent camp. During the spartans stay at the camp, Avery had the Hamlet defend against incoming Covenant fire and soon recalled the spartans as the Hamlet took heavy fire. Soon afterwards, the Hamlet deployed Juliet to the region of Crowe to defend a key research lab while Avery would launch a massive frontal assault against the Covenant to by the spartans time. Successfully destroying two small patrol ships, the Hamlet took to much fire and was forced to pick up the spartans and flee the system, losing Demos. Battle of New Century On November 1st 2545, the Covenant found the planet New Century, an agricultural powerhouse. Arriving on the third, Avery quickly went to work deploying Bravo Team to New London to secure the city. The following day, Delta Team led a massive ODST force against the Covenant but it resulted in failure, however the spartans were only captured, not killed. Bravo Team was deployed to save the spartans and they did, with no causalities at all. Later, Roderick divides OPERATION: Sandstorm to retake the Lapus desert and Gorge from the Covenant with James approving. James provided enough covering fire to make the Covenant ships come for him. Outmaneuvering the Covenant, Avery was able to shoot down or heavily damage the ships to the point where the crew abandoned ship. As the battled waged, seeming for anyone's favor, it wasn't until the Covenant began glassing New London and New Stellic City that James knew this was the end. As Bravo Team decided to stay behind while the rest of the Corps retreats to the UNSC Altman, James decided to stay with them. Operating the ship on his own, Avery was eventually shot down by a glassing beam directly in front of the bridge. James Avery died in the crash. Legacy Leaving behind a son, a daughter and a wife, all three including the family he left behind morned James' loss. Luckily for his heroism, a new class of frigate was named the Avery Class Heavy Cruiser. Joseph also joined the navy and took part in the Battle of Earth. Much like his father, Joseph was an amazing tactician James' skills were also documented and soon became standard maneuvers for the UNSC navy. Furthermore, James would be honored along with Bravo Team during the re-colonization and re-opening of New Century in 2592 with James' grandchildren Hunter James Smith, Emily Jane Smith and James Thomas Smith. All three also followed in their uncle's (Joseph) steps and joined the UNSC and soon Spartan branch. All three made it home alive. Psych-Interviews Personality James Avery was described by his school peers as anti-social, and very focused. James lacked friends but instead had a extreme intelligence and drive to do good and be better than the rest but always keeping, or sometimes dropping it, his ego in check. James also cared for everyone and their emotional states. Though he was bullied and beat up for literally nothing, he cared because "It what the good man would do." According to Trevor Avery, "James' biggest dream was to be the good man I was or what he claims I was". James' greatest act of heroism however was that during the Battle of New Century when he ordered his entire crew including all his spartans to the Altman to save their lives while he managed the whole ship against the Covenant. James also showed signs of respect for those he claimed deserved it. That list included all spartans, Captain Locke, his parents, and family, and all Admiral and generals as "They did their job, show some respect, they earned it". Physical Appearance James Avery was identifiable through his slim yet strong appearance and "older" look than his peers. James looked much like his father and brother Thomas, but did not act like them at all. James didn't use his physical edge unless forced to, rather he focused more on brain work and strategy to solve the problems given to him. James' most identifiable trait however was his Cybernetic Hand he received at age ten when a Martian Bass Shark bit it off on a fishing trip. Unlike other cybernetics, James asked that his new left hand was only as strong as his right as he didn't want an advantage unless he "earned" it. Relationships Avery Family Trevor Avery Being the father of James, Trevor Avery was once a captain of a colony ship entitled, The Journey. Being the inspiration for James' love for space travel, he and James would spend a grand amount of time while on the road or in deep space conducting missions for the UNSC. Trevor would also assist James with hard task and social issues and was what gave him many of his beliefs. Emily Avery Wife of Trevor and the mother of James, Emily Avery also installed some of the morals and beliefs that James held for almost his entire life. Jane Avery Though the two had little interaction during their lives, Jane and James still held a strong bond and would assist each other for life. Eventually, Jane would work for James' salvation company and soon, its CEO. Thomas Avery The older brother of James, Thomas was James' best friend and closet ally in his youth. The two were inseparable and assisted each other whenever they could. Thomas was also the main reason for his enlistment as both men joined the navy, only Thomas was first. Amy Madison James' wife, she was the first friend outside of his family that James ever had. Amy was known for being extremely intelligent and very well mannered. The two were truly in love with the other and supported each other. Amy also came to work for James' salvation company as the CFO were she continue to run it with Jane. Joseph and Lindsey Avery Though the three had little interaction, James still loved them and cared greatly for each. Marcus Locke Being James' first CO, Marcus Locke was a friend of James' and held high respect for each. The two were known as some of the greatest naval commanders in the early and late years of the war. Marcus held James' family at high regards as well and respected each of them. In return, James trusted Locke until his death and the two continued their friendship until James' death. Alpha-Zulu Corps Roderick-A207 The two leaders of the Alpha-Zulu Corps, Roderick and James were known to hold each other to highest respect possible. The two were known as "Old Friends" and cared greatly for the other. Roderick was also the one who gave the eulogy at James' funeral. James' death was also recorded to hit Roderick the hardest, showing how much each cared for the other. Benjamin-B300 James and Benji had a stable working relationship with each other and saw themselves as a father-son duo while on missions with each other. Benji had a large amount of respect for James and in return, James honored him and would not leave his side during the Battle of New Century. Ace-A220 James and Ace seem to have little interaction outside of mission briefs. However, the two seemed to have a lot of trust and faith in each others abilities. Quotes Confirmed Kills Least to Greatest Elites: 28 Jackals: 47 Grunts: 88 Total Kills: 193 Category:Alpha-Zulu Corps Category:BEN THE BESTverse